Telecommunications networks that provide wireless access (e.g. GSM, UMTS, WiMax, LTE) have developed tremendously over the past years. In such networks, voice and data services can be provided to terminals having a high mobility, i.e. the communication terminals are not bound to a particular location and are freely movable through the area covered by the network. A gateway node of the telecommunications network enables connection to a further network, for example a network based on IP such as the internet.
The availability of such a telecommunications network connected to the further network has resulted in demands for further services, including services that relate to so-called machine-to-machine (M2M) services. Machine type communication is currently being standardized in 3GPP TS 22.368. M2M applications typically involve hundreds, thousands or millions of communication modules which each act as a communication terminal to the telecommunication network. An example involves the electronic reading of e.g. ‘smart’ electricity meters at the homes of a large customer base over the telecommunications network from a server connected to the further network. A characteristic of some of the M2M applications is that the exchange of data with the server is infrequent, for example once every day or so for a smart electricity meter.
Other examples include sensors, meters, vending or coffee machines etc. that can be equipped with communication modules that allow reporting status information to a data processing centre over the telecommunications network. Such devices may also be monitored by the server. The data processing centre may e.g. store the data and/or provide a schedule for maintenance people to repair or refill a machine, meter, sensor etc.
Various information messages may need to be transmitted to the large amount of communication terminals. It may occur that information messages need to be transmitted to a considerable number of the communication terminals in a short time frame. Such information messages may result in a considerable message load for the telecommunications network. The message load may relate both to the signalling load incurred on the transmission links used for the exchange of the information messages and incurred in the involved nodes to transmit and receive the information messages and to the processing load incurred in the affected nodes to process the information contents of the information messages. Therefore, there is a need for a more efficient transmission of information messages for M2M communications.